Fire Dragon

Read Vote and comment...Pleeeeeease :D

His left hand shook with effort as he aimed for the second shot.  Cupping the butt of the gun with his other hand to steady it, he fired.  His mind registered the stunned expression on the man’s face, but he couldn’t seem to hold himself up any longer.  There was a dull echo of metal bouncing off the hardwood floor as his arms fell limply to the sides.  Then his body followed.  Before he succumbed to the darkness that shrouded him, a thought came to him with sudden clarity, that although he’d managed to rid the world of one more evil, the price to pay was too steep.

1

He checked the time again in a hurry to get back to work, back to the old warehouse he’d been helping the community convert into a boxing gym.  It was a project he’d secretly funded to keep troubled youth of the streets, but more than that, it was a place that took him away from the isolation that his past had provided.  Stepping onto the scruffy sidewalk with his too-late lunch, someone called his name.   

“Declan O’ Brien?”

He turned, cast him an irritated glance, and then popped a heap of noodles into his mouth. 

“We need to talk.”  The man said, trying to keep pace beside him.   “Alec Friedman.  Remember me?”

I wish I didn’t…With a grimace, he jabbed his chopsticks into the box.

Friedman pulled at his collar uncomfortably and then pointed out another man up ahead.  “That’s my partner Morgan.  My new partner.  Smith retired last year.”

As if I care.  Declan took another bite.    

“We can do this out in the open if you like, but it would best if you joined us in the car.”  The older man went on bravely, carefully avoiding yet another jut of concrete on the sidewalk.   

Declan came to a dead halt causing the man to go right past him before realizing his folly.  He chewed deliberately and swallowed.  He might as well have been eating grass for all he tasted.

A couple walking past them slowed down to stare at the strange sight.

His gaze followed theirs until it landed on a shiny new Mercedes with tinted windows.  The midnight-green car stood out like a sore thumb, parked between a run down Ford jalopy and an over flowing dustbin.  Throw in a guy with a suit and a bulge in his jacket in the seedy Romero District-Bad news.

Morgan shifted against the door watching the two of them, his lips twitched in amusement at the older man’s discomfort.  Then his eyes met Declan’s.  He tried to hold the stare, but he only lasted a moment before losing the unspoken challenge.

Over confident rookie.  Declan smirked.  

Morgan straightened slowly, but he couldn’t bring himself to look back at the man they had sought out. 

The nosy couple hurried along. 

No longer hungry, Dec tossed the box into the bin and wiped both hands on the back of his jeans.  He pulled off his backpack and threw Friedman another dark look before getting in.  He knew they would come eventually.  He just didn’t expect it to be so soon.  

They drove for a while in silence, before turning into the parking lot of a newly refurbished building.  Friedman kept his face averted while he ran a hand over the briefcase on his lap.  Dec had a feeling that the man was choosing his words carefully before he said them.

“O’Brien ...” He began hesitantly, shook his head, and tried again.  “Declan, you must be wondering why we’re here after this long, right?”